2 March 2008
RockYou Spams Users, MySpace Passes With Flying Colors
Recently, RockYou, the well-known apps maker for Facebook, MySpace, and others, was put in its place in an action which I think should be an example for all Social Networking sites out there. The issue surrounded an App it was building for the Myspace OpenSocial Platform, in which the app screen-scraped a user’s profile and posted “spammy” messages on the friends’ Comments. Such a feature is not a part of the MySpace API, and as MySpace puts it, violating the site’s Terms of Service.
Developers in the Forums noticed the report on Mashable, and started complaining about it to MySpace. MySpace quickly responded, stating that RockYou was violating the MySpace Terms of Service, and the App had promptly been removed and the comments removed from profiles of users.
I’m very proud of MySpace in this gesture against “Spammy” Apps. To me, it in many ways shows the maturity of MySpace vs. sites like Facebook, which are still learning how to attack such tactics. MySpace realizes the simple solution - if an App spams, remove the app, immediately! Perhaps if Facebook did this as quickly as it did Profiles, there would be better quality Apps on Facebook.
2 Comments currently posted.
Jeff Blake says:
Tandy says:
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Here’s an open letter to MySpace and other OpenSocial sites asking them to fight application spammers like RockYou:
http://fight.opensocial.spam.googlepages.com/home
If you don’t want MySpace, hi5, Orkut, or other OpenSocial sites to become overrun with application spam like Facebook, make your voice known. Leave a comment on the open letter.